The selfie has been a subject of many studies, and it’s often connected with a negative outcome. A recent paper shows another disturbing trend: people don’t like how they look in selfies, which makes them turn to plastic surgery. The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons (AAFPRS) has revealed in a recent poll the increasing trend of having nose jobs for the sake of better selfies. In 2017, plastic surgeons reported that 55 percent of their patients wanted surgeries to help them look better in selfies. For comparison, the number of such patients was 13 percent in 2016. Another recent paper, published in JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery, shows the same trend. Most of the patients demanded nose jobs, because their noses “looked too big in their selfies.” Boris Paskhover, a facial plastic surgeon at Rutgers University is one of the co-authors of the paper. He “recognized what was going on with the nose job requests,” as he told Vox.

According to the researchers, selfies make your nose look “about 30 percent larger.” Many people aren’t aware of how focal length impacts a portrait. Consequently, it makes them hate how they look in selfies and they want to change their appearance. Selfies can have a great impact of how people see themselves, and judging from this study, they don’t really have a positive impact on self-esteem (diyphotography.net).

This difficulty of tracking down outdoor photos that haven’t been geotagged has led a U.S. spy lab to launch Finder: a research program of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Agency (IARPA), the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s dedicated research organization. The project aims to build on existing research systems to develop technology that augments analysts’ geolocating skills. At this point, analysts rely on information such as visible skyline and terrain; digital elevation data; existing, well-understood image collections; surface geology; geography; and architecture (think red phone booths). The goal is all-encompassing: IARPA wants Finder to find everything, as in, the ability to geolocate any video or photo taken anywhere outdoors. If Finder gets to the outdoors-omniscient level that IARPA intends to take it, it’s going to be able to find anybody, anywhere, and that includes non-criminals/terrorists (nakedsecurity.sophos.com).

Here’s something that isn’t directly photography-related but is relevant to pretty much every photographer: if you’ve never heard of it before, you should check out the website Have I Been Pwned? It lets you search for your email addresses and passwords to see if any of your accounts have been compromised through security breaches. The website was launched back in 2013 by Web security expert Troy Hunt, and its functionality is being adopted by major services in the industry. Nothing you enter into the search box is saved anywhere — it’s simply checked against the growing list of email addresses and passwords that have been leaked through major hacks. There is currently data obtained from 269 compromised websites that have leaked over 4.8 billion user account details onto the Web. Among the compromised websites are photo-related and commonly used ones you will be familiar with (and some you likely use). Big names include Adobe, Snapchat, Imgur, Kickstarter, Comcast, Tumblr, and Dropbox (PetaPixel).

And now to our featured readers.

Janine Diaz, a public school teacher from Angono, Rizal shares one of her favorite photos titled “The Lakeside.” “I really love taking photos in places where I visit,” writes Janine. “Whenever I have free time, I roam around our town and take photos which catch my attention.”

From newbie street photographer John Leo Agner Ocenar is an untitled black-and-white photo of a dog atop a tricycle roof. On the back of the tricycle are the words “The King.” He shares: “I love street that I am willing to walk kilometers just to take pictures, just to see people, what they are doing and who they are when no one is looking—and that is a big story to have for me. I love street that I’m willing to wait just to capture (they know it that I’m capturing them, as long as they are not naked). I remember one night, at 10 p.m., hungry and cold in the street I asked myself: ‘Why am I doing this?’ Because (talking to myself), not only I’m good at it but because I am a Filipino and they are Filipinos. The only way for me as a photographer—the only way to be a true Filipino—is that I can capture and create the story of whom they are, who we are.”

The photo, “Fun Under the Sun” comes from Arellano Galdo III. His photo description reads: “Shoot at Macajalar Bay, Jasaan, Misamis Oriental while I was waiting for the sunset and saw these two children running back and forth in the sand.”

Jomarie Romaquin sent in an untitled photo of young children participating in the street parade of the Kalibo Sto. Niño Ati-atihan Festival.

Seafarer Mandy Buenconsejo contributed the long exposure night photo of a rotunda with streaks of colorful lights from passing vehicles. Mandy writes: “This photo was taken on a view deck in one of the Condo residences in Tagaytay during Christmas day. The traffic was not so different during rush hour in Manila, but the weather was great. It’s like you were in Baguio.”

Melvin Anore also has a photo of the Black Nazarene titled “The Sign,” but taken from the Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno’s pilgrimage at Sta. Ursula Parish in Binangonan, Rizal which occurs in the month of November. “I was so lucky to have captured these moment, the rainbow suddenly appeared during the procession of the Black Nazarene,” he shares.

Timothy Paul Alvarez submitted the black-and-white photo, “Paseo De Roxas.” “I just love the patterns formed by the underpass light,” he writes.

From Dr. Vinod Thomas is the photo of the Memorial Bridge in Washington, DC that he simply titled “Memorial.” Vinod shares that he has been taking photos of bridges lately.

And Nicky Ledesma shares “Ruins in Infrared.” He writes that the photo may be “the only infrared photo of the Ruins in Negros.” He took the photo with a Nikon D40x (590 nm), infrared converted sensor.

Readers may now view issues of Picture Perfect including this column at www.mb.com.ph. For comments, suggestions or just to share an image or idea, email throughalensclearly@yahoo.com or rfyparedes@yahoo.com.